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 The Kansas City right-hander struck out 11 in six scoreless innings,
left fielder Paulo Orlando homered, and the Royals beat the Orioles
5-3.
The Royals, who took three of four from the Orioles, have not lost a
series since dropping two of three in Detroit on Aug. 4-6. Kansas
City has won nine of its past 10 games against its 2014 American
League Championship Series opponent.
Ventura (9-7) allowed two singles and four walks but needed 98
pitches to get through six scoreless innings.
"His curveball was excellent today, fastball up to a 100 miles per
hour, great changeup," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "(His
curveball) was the most consistent it's looked. He was really
consistent with it today."
"Unbelievable," third baseman Mike Moustakas said. "He's commanding
all his pitches, throwing 97, 99 miles an hour. Curveball's good,
changeup's good. He walked a couple of guys early but continued to
pitch out of jams and pitched really well."
Kansas City opened the scoring in the fourth when Moustakas led off
with a double and catcher Salvador Perez brought him home with a
looping single to left.
Right fielder Alex Rios doubled to move Perez to third. Perez then
scored on Orlando's sacrifice fly for a 2-0 lead.
"That's the good thing about this team right now," Yost said. "It's
a balanced attack. (Eric) Hosmer and (Lorenzo) Cain were hotter than
firecrackers a week ago, and they've cooled off a bit, and now Moose
and (Kendrys) Morales and Rios have picked up that slack. If you can
keep two or three guys hot in your lineup, you're going to score
runs."
Moustakas made it 3-0 in the fifth with an RBI single that drove in
designated hitter Ben Zobrist.
"Moose has really been seeing the ball well," Yost said. "Clutch
hits, big hits, starting key rallies, finishing key rallies. He's
been really good for us."
Moustakas said, "I'm comfortable in the box and seeing the ball good
right now and that's all you can ask for. I'm getting opportunities
to drive guys in."
Orlando, making just his second start since Aug. 21, connected in
the sixth for his fifth home run of the season, a one-out solo shot
off Chris Tillman, to improve the Royals' advantage to 4-0.
"I just waited for a fastball," Orlando said. "He threw me one down
there, and I got a pretty good swing on it."
Yost added, "He had some really good at-bats. A big sacrifice fly
with runners at second and third, and then the big home run to give
us the four-run lead. The thing about Paulo is that he's a lot like
Salvy (Perez). He's dangerous. You just don't know what's going to
happen because he's got life in his bat. If you make a mistake, he
can hit it a long way or drive it in a gap for a triple or a double.
Every game, he finds a way to do something."
Shortstop Ryan Flaherty put the Orioles on the board with a leadoff
homer in the seventh, his second home run in two days and sixth of
the year.
Moustakas capped the Royals' scoring with a two-out single to center
in the bottom of the seventh, bringing in pinch runner Eric Hosmer
for a 5-1 lead.
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The Orioles cut their deficit to 5-3 in the ninth on doubles by
second baseman Jonathan Schoop and catcher Caleb Joseph and an RBI
single by third baseman Manny Machado against Royals right-hander
Greg Holland, who got center fielder Gerardo Parra to ground out to
end the threat.
Baltimore's starting lineup combined to go 4-for-31 with 13
strikeouts and was 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
Tillman (9-9), who had a 12-game unbeaten streak snapped in his
previous start, went six innings, allowing nine hits and four runs
with one walk and one strikeout.
"Overall, I think our game plan coming in was to keep the ball on
the ground, and for the most part, that's what we did," Tillman
said. "I made some mistakes that they were able to hit the ball
hard. They've got a great lineup. They battle and they wait 'til the
pitcher makes a mistake."
Baltimore center fielder Adam Jones left the game in the third with
an apparent shoulder injury after running into the left-center field
wall in the first inning.
"He'll see the doctor in the morning in Texas," Orioles manager Buck
Showalter said. "I'm not sure what time that will be. He'll get
looked at tomorrow, and we'll see what tomorrow brings."
"Nothing's wrong with me," Jones said after having X-rays. "I'll
probably play tomorrow. I just didn't feel myself. There's no point
in me not feeling myself. We've got a great team, we've got great
guys that can go in there, filling in. I'm not going to be out there
when I'm not feeling myself. I feel great."
NOTES: Orioles LHP Zach Britton leads major league relievers in
ground-ball percentage (.795) and ground-ball/fly-ball ratio (8.75).
... Royals RHP Yordano Ventura is unbeaten (5-0) in his past seven
starts while limiting opponents to a .212 average (35-for-165). ...
Kansas City 1B Eric Hosmer, who appeared as a sub Thursday, is
hitless in his past three games and nine at-bats. It is the first
time since June 23-24 at Seattle that Hosmer failed to record a hit
in consecutive games. ... Before going 0-for-5 Thursday, Baltimore
RF Gerardo Parra was hitting .340 (89-for-262) since June 11, which
led all major league hitters (minimum 215 plate appearances). ...
Orioles 3B Manny Machado has hits in 59 of his past 73 games,
batting .318 (94-for-296) with 30 walks, 15 doubles, 18 homers, 41
RBIs, 49 runs and eight stolen bases in that span. ... CF Lorenzo
Cain has hits in 11 of his last 12 games at Kauffman Stadium. He
didn't play Thursday.
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
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